The travels and tourism industry is a major source of income for most States in the United States of America and of course most countries of the world. The travels and tourism industry provide jobs directly or indirectly to countless numbers of entrepreneurs all over the globe.
The opportunities that is available in the industry cuts across service deliveries and product sales, amongst others.The industry is open to both big time investors who have the financial capacity to invest in the aviation industry and also aspiring entrepreneurs who just want to make a living but don’t have start – capital.
Here are 50 thriving and profitable business ideas in the travel and tourism industry that an entrepreneur or investor who is looking towards starting a business can choose from;
Best Travel and Tourism Business ideas
-
Tourist Guide
One of the travel and tourism related businesses that an entrepreneur can successfully start with little or no money is to become a tourist guide. All that is required to successfully launch this type of business is to ensure that you can speak at least one or more foreign languages.
This could be English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese or German. Furthermore, you must also know the terrain pretty well.
Once you are certain that you can effectively translate or interpret, then all that is expected of you to do is to position yourself in places where you can have access to tourists. This could be in a hotel lobby (you would have to negotiate with the hotel manager) or via referrals from a travels and tours company.
Restaurant and bar is yet another business that is part of the business value chain of the travels and tourism industry. Although, most tourists may prefer to eat the food they are familiar with, but it wouldn’t be out of place if you could also include some local delicacy as part of the food you sell in your restaurant.
The truth is that some tourists make it mandatory to try out the local delicacies of the community they are visiting. So, ensure that you include local delicacies as part of the food you sell in your restaurant if your restaurant is located in a tourist town.
-
Hotel and Lodge (Motel, Inn et al)
Of course, it is a must for visitors to look for places to lodge when they visit any town. Unless they have a host who is ready to accommodate them for the duration they stay for. So, hotel and lodge is a very vital business that is needed in tourist towns.
As a matter of fact, before tourists visit a tourist town, part of their findings will be how to locate the nearest hotel and lodge in the town. The truth is that if a tourist town lacks standard hotels and lodges, then they are likely to attract fewer visitors (tourists).
So, as an investor, if you are looking towards starting a travels and tourism related business, then one of your options is to invest in hotels and lodge. Or better still,you can start a bed and breakfast business.
Taxi and bus shuttle business is another fantastic travels and tourism related business idea that thrives pretty well in a tourist town. Of course, tourists would want to move together from one tourist site to another hence the need for a bus shuttle services.
The bus shuttle could also help transport them (tourists) on arrival from the airport to their hotels and also from their hotels to the airports on their departure. Taxi is also ideal for couples, an individual or a group of 3 or 4 persons.
-
Vehicle Rental Business
Rental business is yet another travels and tourism related business that is viable and profitable in a tourist town. There are several stuffs that tourists could rent when they visit tourist sites. It could be a car, scooter, speed boat, canoe or even horse, donkey or camel.
The bottom line is to conduct your market survey to know what tourists may likely need in the tourist town that they aren’t able to bring along when they are visiting. Once you have an idea of the stuff that is needed by tourists, then all you need to do is to purchase enough quantities of the stuffs and then position your business in a place that will be visible to tourists.
Photography business is an added business venture in the value chain of travels and tourism industry. Although, most tourists would always travel with their cameras to capture beautiful sites and moments albeit in an armature manner, but if they have the option to make use of a professional photographer, they would gladly embrace it.
So, one of the business ideas that is suitable for a tourist town is the photography business. If you are a professional photographer, you can consider opening your own photography business. That is if you live in a tourist town or you can partner with a travels and tours company to become one of their official photographer.
Souvenir shop is yet another travels and tours business idea that is highly profitable in any tourist town. Loads of visitors would prefer to buy local crafts, unique gifts or native wears, et al from a tourist town as a mark of remembrance.
Subsequently, if you are looking for a travels and tourism related business to setup in a tourist town, then you can consider opening a souvenir shop that will be stocked with local crafts and native wears et al. Just ensure that your souvenir shop is well located and looks attractive.
Night club is another business idea in the business value chain of the travels and tourism industry that an investor or entrepreneur who is looking towards starting business in the industry should consider starting. This type of business can do pretty well in a tourist town.
This type of business is profitable, but it may not thrive in all tourist towns, especially smaller towns with quiet lifestyle. So before you venture into nightclub business, ensure that you have conducted a thorough feasibility studies and market survey to be sure that the business will thrive.
-
Luggage Delivery Services
Another travels and tourism related business idea that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the industry should consider starting is luggage delivery services.
Luggage delivery business is all about helping travelers to avoid the hassles of baggage merry-go-round waiting and security checks. As a matter of fact luggage delivery services go the extra mile to provide luggage for their customers. All the customer need to do is just to pack their traveling clothes and other belongings that they are traveling with inside the luggage.
What the luggage Delivery Company does is to take and store the luggage on their behalf. They also help in encoding the contents online so that the owner can update its contents against another trip.
Coffee café is yet an extra business idea that an entrepreneur who is looking towards making money from the business value chain of travels and tourism industry should consider starting. As a matter of fact, there is hardly any airport where you are not going to find a coffee café. The truth is that, coffee café businesses do pretty well in a tourist town.
So, if you are looking towards starting a travels and tourism related business, then one of your options is to open a coffee shop in and around the airport if you have the opportunity to. Location is key for this type of business except you want to operate a mobile /cart coffee shop business.
-
Start a Welcoming Service
Another easy to establish travels and tourism related business that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the industry should consider starting.
Welcoming services is all about welcoming tourists to a tourist town and in turn giving them useful information and of course package of coupons, samples from local businesses, and other opportunities that are available in the town. This type of business is one of the travels and tours business that an entrepreneur can successfully start with little or no start – up capital.
So, if you are looking for a business to start, then you should consider starting a welcoming services business; it is a cool way of earning money.
-
Start Language Translation Services
Language translation services is yet another thriving and profitable business that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the travels and tourism industry.
All that is required to successfully launch this type of business is to ensure that you can speak at least one or more foreign languages; it could be English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese or German and of course other local languages.
So, if you are looking towards earning income from the business value chain of the travels and tourism industry, then you should consider starting a language translation services. One good thing about this type of business is that you can successfully start it with little or no start – up capital.
Another travels and tourism related business idea that an entrepreneur who is tinkering with starting a business in the industry should consider starting is a limousine services. This type of business is all about making limousine available to transport tourists from one location to another.
In most cases, celebrities are the major clients for this type of business. So if you are looking towards starting a business in the travels and tourism industry, then one of your options is to start a limousine services business. You can as well add other exotic cars to your flit of cars for this business.
Self – service Laundromat business is yet another means of earning income from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the industry should consider starting.
As the name implies, a self-service laundry or coin wash / laundry or Laundromat is a laundry facility where people come in to personally wash and dry their clothes; technically, customers provide their own labor and still pay the for making use of the laundry equipment available.
Although the laundry industry can be said to be a competitive industry, but it does not in any way stop entrepreneurs who are creative to still make headway in the industry. It is indeed a profitable business especially when the business is located an area that tourists visits. No doubt a busy city with growing population is highly suitable for Laundromat.
A car rental service is another cool travels and tourism related business that an entrepreneur who is looking towards earning income from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry can successfully launch. A car rental service is all about making cars available for rent to those who may need cars for one purpose or the other.
So, if you are looking towards starting a travels and tourism related business, one of your options is to go into car rental services.
If you live in busy cities like Tokyo, Las Vegas, Milan, and Lagos et al then you should consider starting a car rental services business; this type of business is highly thriving and profitable in busy cities and places with huge influx of tourists.
Another travels and tourism related business that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business should consider is Jet Ski rental services. The truth is that starting a rental business is one of the easiest ways to start out as an entrepreneur -especially if you can’t afford to go through the challenges involve in the productions of goods.
So, if you live around any beach where people either ski for fun or for sports, then you should consider starting your own Jet Ski rental business.
You can indeed make cool cash from this line of business with little effort if you are well positioned. Jet Ski rental business can only be restricted to a certain geographical area, which is why before starting this type of business, you must ensure that you are in a place where this type of business thrives basically because there is a beach and people visit the beach.
Another profitable and thriving business idea in the travels and tourism industry that an entrepreneur who intends starting a business in the industry should consider starting is to start a travels and tourism related TV show. Everyone who intends travelling to a location as a tourist need all the information they can lay their hands own as regards the destination they are heading to.
One thing is certain, if your TV program is well organized and well – packaged to address key issues as it relates to the travels and tourism industry, then you will surely attract large viewership and of course mouthwatering sponsorship deals from major players in the value chain of the travels and tours industry in your country.
It is a cool way of making money, but you must always be your toe when it comes to developing interesting, trendy and useful contents for the TV program.
Of course it is more expensive to buy slots on TV than it is for radio. As such, if you are looking towards starting a travels and tourism related talk show and you don’t have the finance to purchase airtime on TV, then going on radio is your best options.
The truth is that, if your radio talk show is well organized and well – packaged to address key issues in the travels and tourism industry and useful tips about key tourists destinations, then you will sure attract large listenership and of course mouthwatering sponsorship deals from major players in the travels and tourism industry in your country.
It is a cool way of making money, but you must always be your toe when it comes to developing interesting and useful contents as it relates to travel and tourism for the radio talk show.
-
Start Blogging on Travels and Tourism Related Topics
Another means of earning income from the business value chain of the travels and tourism industry that an entrepreneur can successfully launch with little or no start – up capital is to start blogging on travels and tourism related topics.
It is interesting to note that there are loads of people out there who are making millions annually from blogging. If you are a travels and tourism professional or someone who has sound knowledge in the travels and tourism industry, one of the businesses that you can consider starting is to start blogging on travels and tourism related subjects.
The truth is that if your blog has useful and helpful contents, you will attract loads of traffic and if you have loads of traffic on your blog, you can easily secure good advertising deals from stakeholders and other businesses in your blog. Just ensure that you update your blog regularly with trendy and useful travels and tourism tips and you will continue to attract traffic.
-
Go into the Publication of Travels and Tourism Magazine (Travel Guide)
There are several businesses that an entrepreneur can launching the value chain of travels and tourism industry and one of them is to start publishing travels and tours magazines. Information is key in any industry and all you need to do to be able to gain ground with this type of business is to ensure that you have relevant contents in your magazine per time.
Part of the information that you should make available in your travels and tours magazine are, the prices of tickets for various airline companies, list of hotels, tourist locations, the various business opportunities in the industry, the latest trends, news and information as it relates to the industry, and advisory services to investors who are looking towards investing in the travels and tourism.
Another money spinning business that an entrepreneur who is interested in earning revenue from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry should consider starting is a private escort firm.
Private escort firms provides security for individuals most especially tourists and visitors who wants to move from one locations to another with valuables, and huge amount of cash et al and also for transport companies and haulage companies as well.
So if you are looking towards starting a travels and tourism related business, then one of your options is to start a private escort firm. It is important to state that you would need to apply and obtain license and permits from the appropriate authority in your country.
Another profitable and of course thriving business that an entrepreneur who is interested in earning money from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry should consider starting is to start supplying bodyguards to tourists especially celebrities who are visiting tourist locations.
In order to successfully launch this type of business, you should be able to maintain a rich network of bodyguards. Because whenever you are called to supply them, you should be able to quickly summon them within a short period of time.
Travels and tourism consulting business is yet another thriving and profitable business in the travels and tourism industry. If you have robust qualification and experience, one of the travels and tourism related business you can successfully start is a travels and tourism consulting business.
There are several clients you can work for as a travels and tourism consultant. Your clientele base will range from corporate organizations, to government agencies and from individual tourists to businesses in the travels and tourism industry. It is a cool way of earning good income from the industry.
-
Open a community Museum (Arts and Culture)
If you are interested in arts and culture, one of the travels and tourism related business ideas that you should consider starting is to open a community museum; a place where the art and culture of your community will be preserved.
If you are considering starting this type of social enterprise, then it will be to your advantage to partner with your local government and perhaps institutions of higher learning in your city or community. Aside from the revenue that you will generate from visitors and tourists, you can also receive grants and funding from donor agencies, individuals, corporate organizations and from the government of your country
-
Organize Carnivals and Other Related Events in Your Community
Another interesting means of earning money from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry that an entrepreneur should consider starting especially if you are good with organizing events is to start organizing carnivals and other related events in your community especially if your community attract tourists and visitors on a regular basis.
If your events are well packaged, you can successfully get financial support and sponsorship deals from your local government, corporate organizations that operate within your community and from individuals who are interested in the event you intend organizing.
Taxi / cab services is yet an added means of earning money from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business should consider starting. With just a car, an entrepreneur can successfully launch his or her tax business.
As a matter of fact with hard work and dedication, a serious minded entrepreneur can grow his taxi business from just one taxi and to fleet of taxis covering an entire city or state. Taxi business is a profitable business in the united states of America and in most countries of the world where tourist visits on a regular basis.
An airport bus shuttle service is still an option to consider. As you can start an airport shuttle business and still make loads of profit. Airport shuttle service is all about transporting passengers / tourists and their luggage within the airport, or from their hotels to the airport and vice versa.
Depending on the kind of permit you obtained to operate your airport shuttle, you would need to acquire standard and comfortable automobile for this kind of service.Of course, you need to put people with disabilities into consideration when making plans on the kind of shuttle bus or cars to purchase.
All you need to do to get started with pursuing this line of business is to make enquiries from the airport authority in your areas to know if private companies are allowed to run a shuttle bus service in the airport and the rules and regulation governing shuttle bus operators.
Starting an airline company is yet another thriving and profitable business that an entrepreneur who is interested in starting a big time business in the travels and tourism industry you should consider. This might sound interesting, but the truth remains that this kind of business sure is very capital intensive.
This is as a result of the high maintenance fee that is involved and what have you. If you are a big time investor and you have been a lover of aviation, and want to build a business around the industry, then you can start an airline company. You may look at getting loans from banks, individuals, as well as angel investors, as you look to launch out.
-
Ticketing and Reservation Services
A Ticketing and reservation service is perhaps one of the most popular money – spinning business in the travels and tourism industry that an entrepreneur who is interested in starting a business in the industry should consider starting.
Once people scale through the difficult hurdle of getting a visa, the next thing they begin to consider or rather putting in their expense budget would be tickets. It is for this reason that the business is a very profitable one. You too may consider cashing in on the industry by starting a ticketing and reservation business.
In starting this business, you will need a great wealth of knowledge. That is why you can begin to look at having ticketing deals and stuff like that.
-
Helicopter Transportation Services
Another thriving and profitable travels and tourism related business that an investor who is looking towards starting a business in the industry should consider starting is helicopter transportation services. There are times when people will need to hire helicopters for official and pleasure use.
This is why there are several helicopter transportation services available. This is one of the reasons why you can look at starting a helicopter transportation services. Do note that starting this type of trade doesn’t come easy as you would need thousands, upon thousands of dollars. Hence, you would need to first sit and run your analysis before launching this type of business.
Another highly thriving and profitable travels and tourism business that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the industry should consider starting is a travel agency. Travel agencies render services that cover all aspect of traveling.
They help their clients in securing visas, purchase flight tickets, book hotels, book taxi cabs and bus shuttle services and of course make arrangement for site seeing amongst other services.
So, if you are looking towards starting a business in the travels and tours industry, then one of your options is to start a travel agency. It is a cool way of making money from the industry and with little start – up capital a serious minded entrepreneur can successfully launch this type of business.
-
Travel Directory
If you are looking towards leveraging on the travels and tourism industry to earn money, then one of your options should be to develop travel directory. A directory is a comprehensive listing of several businesses and services within a particular sector.
The truth is that people usually search for any available information they can lay their hands on especially when they are about embarking on a journey hence the need for travel directory. You can make your travel directory available both offline and online so as to give your potential clients the options to choose what best suits them.
-
Start a Business That Organizes Excursions for School Children
It is the tradition in most schools especially primary and secondary school to take their students on excursion once in a while. Excursion is an avenue where students travel out of their schools to get first hand experiential learning.
So if you are good with organizing trips and you are looking towards making money from the travel and tourism industry, then one of your options is to packaged excursion trips for schools. If you are good at marketing, you will be able to seal business deals with lots of schools in and around your community.
-
Start a Coaching Center to Prepare Students for Finance Related Certification Exams
It is the practice for students who want to write professional exams to attend coaching center in order to prepare effectively for their exams.
If you are academic incline, then one of the businesses you should consider starting in the travels and tourism industry is to open a coaching center where students attend lectures in preparation for travels and tourism related certification exams such as IATTA certifications and other ticketing related certifications et al.
It is a cool way of making money and you will definitely attract loads of students if the success rate (those who become chattered) is much in your coaching center.
-
Build and Sale Customized Travels and Tours Related Software Applications
Developing and selling of travels and tours related software applications is yet another cool way of making money from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry.
If you are a software developer, then you should consider developing customized software applications geared towards simplifying business processes in the travels and tourism industry, software applications that will help simplify processes in the industry.
You can as well work with your client to develop tailored software application that suits perfectly into their business. In marketing your product, you would have to go out of your way to convince stakeholders in the industry to patronize you.
-
Open an Online Hotel Booking Sites
Another means of earning good income from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry is to open an online hotel booking site.
What you need to do is to ensure that you network with hotels in your country and even outside your country to get them listed on your site and most importantly, you should agree with them one the commission or percentage cut you will get when a customer book their hotel through you.
-
Start a ‘Travel Now Pay Later’ Scheme
There are loads of people who are finding it difficult to save – up for vacation hence they’ve been procrastinating when it comes to going on vacation. If you are looking towards starting a travels and tourism business that can help such people why you earning good returns, then you should consider starting a Travel now Pay Later Scheme.
Travel no pay later scheme is business that helps people make all the necessary travel arrangement and also foot the bills for the journey while they spread the payment for over a period of time as agreed. Of course they payment will attract some form of interest and you should only target those that have the capacity to pay.
Another thriving and profitable business venture that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the travels and tourism industry should consider starting is a chatter flight service business. No doubt there are loads of people out there who can afford to charter private jets for as long as they want it.
So, if you are looking towards starting this type of business, then you should target such clients. Although this type of business is highly capital intensive especially if you own the jets, but at the same time it is a profitable business.
There are loads of religious worshipers out there who are willing to give up anything to go on a pilgrimage journey just for the purpose of visiting religious sites. For example, it is the practice for Christian folks to visit Jerusalem and also it is the practice for Muslim folks to visit Mecca to perform religious rites et al.
So if you are looking towards starting a business in the travels and tourism industry, then one of your options in to start a pilgrimage travelling company. Of course you can only concentrate on one religion, so if you are a Christian, your best option is to work with Christians and if you are a Muslim, your best option is to work with Muslims.
Another thriving and profitable business venture that an entrepreneur who is interested in starting a business in the travels and tourism business should consider starting is to start the rental of canoes and speed boats.
If you live in the Caribbean or a riverine area that attracts tourists, one of the travels and tours related business idea that you should start is to start renting canoes and speed boats to tourists. It is a cool way of earning money but you must ensure that you have lifejackets and other safety measure in place if you intend starting this type of business.
Boat cruise business is yet another money – spinning travels and tourism related business that an entrepreneur who is interested in starting a business in the industry should consider starting. One of the ways tourists catch fun is via boat cruise and if they have the opportunity to purchase tickets for a boat cruise they will. Although this type of business is capital intensive, but it is highly profitable.
-
Organize Tours for Musicians
Another thriving and profitable business venture that an entrepreneur who has good organizational skills should consider starting is to start organizing tours for musicians.
All you need to do to get started is to ensure that you have more than a handful of cities where you are certain there are loads of fans that will be willing to pay to listen to a musician under your company; it could be cities in different countries and it could cities within a country. It is a cool way of making money but you must work with others to achieve success in this type of business
-
Organize Trade Delegation Trips
If you have good organizational skills, one of the travels and tourism related business that you can successfully launch is to start organizing trade delegation trips for business people and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Trade delegation trips involves taking aspiring entrepreneurs and business people from one country to another country for the purpose of understudying different industries and businesses and also to network with local business men and women in the host city / country.
So if you are looking towards starting a travels and tourism related business, then one of your options is to start organizing trade delegation trips. Just ensure that you work with the chambers of commerce and industries in your country; they are your major clients.
-
Organize Student Exchange Program
Another travels and tourism related business that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the industry should consider starting is organizing student exchange programs. There are loads of students who are more than willing to travel out of their country to participate in international programs.
It is an avenue for them to network and socialize with international students. It is a cool way of making money but you must work hard to ensure that students get value for their monies.
-
Organize International Retreats for Corporate Executives
No doubt there are corporate organizations who take their executives on international retreats in a regular basis and in most cases that work with organizations that help them arrange such programs. So if you are good with organizing trips, one of the travels and tourism related business that you can successfully start is to start organizing international retreats for corporate executives.
Of course should be able to convince them of what they stand to gain if they patronize your services; your value proposition should be worth the while if you want corporate organizations to pay for your services. It is indeed a cool way of making money.
-
Organize Travels and Tours Expos / Fairs
There are loads of players in the travels and tourism business value chain who are looking for platforms to showcase and market their goods and services to their target market. One of such platforms they can leverage on is travels and tours fairs / expos; a place where entrepreneurs and organizations in the industry can attend to promote and market their goods and services.
So if you are good at organizing events and if you are interested in starting a business in the travels and tours industry, then one of your options is to start organizing travels and tours fairs / expos.
You can organize this event at a city level, state level, national level and international level. The truth is that, if the fair / expo is well organized, you will sure attract not just startups in the travels and tours industry, but also major players in the industry.
-
Start the Rental of Horse and Camels
Another easy means of earning money from the value chain in the travels and tourism industry is the rental of horses and camels. If you have visited a beach or you have been to the desert, you will realize that tourists pay to ride these animals. This type of business is easy to start, but you must ensure that your camels and horses are well kept and trained.
-
Organize International Conferences
If you are looking towards making money from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry, then one of your options is to start organizing international conferences targeted towards a particular industry.
You can decide to start organizing international conferences for international players in the travels and tourism industry. The truth is that, if you conference is well publicized; you will sure attract participants from different countries of the world.
-
Start a Ferry Business
Another travels and tours related business idea that an entrepreneur who is looking towards starting a business in the industry should consider starting is a ferry business. If you live in a riverine area or in an island, then you should consider investing in this type of business.
Lastly, another small scale business that an entrepreneur who is looking towards making money from the business value chain in the travels and tourism industry should consider starting is the rental of scooters.
The travels and tourism industry indeed has a lot to offer. However, before you start, you have got to make it a point of duty to carry out all the necessary research that you would need to become the best in all that you do in no time at all.